When the World Turned Against its Heroes
by ryuufubuki
Summary: There were some people who stayed by their side. Each for their own reasons. But all for the heroes who had saved them many times over.


Hello and welcome to When the World Turned Against it's Heroes. This is not related to my other YJ fic, Reconciliation, but a side project dealing with the reactions of various characters to new legislation in the DC universe making vigilantism illegal. For the most part, this story will focus on the Bat Clan, although I might do other heroes later. This take place in a Reverse Age AU of the Bat Clan where Terry and Bruce are brothers so down below you'll find a list of the Bat Clan, their names and ages, I'll be posting a time line when I post Bloodline (a description of which you can see on my profile. Anyway I don't own any fraction of the DC universe, all the same I hope you'll follow, favorite, review and enjoy.

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The Bat Clan:

 **Richard Grayson as Robin (13)**

 **Barbara Gordon as Batgirl (15)**

 **Cassandra Cain as Black Bat (16)**

 **Helena Bertinelli as Huntress (16)**

 **Jason Todd as Red Hood (17)-**

 **Lucas Fox as Batwing (18)**

 **Timothy Drake as Red Robin (19)**

 **Stephine Brown as Spoiler (19)**

 **Damian Wayne as Red Bird (21)**

 **Jean-Paul Valley as Azrael (23)**

 **Kate Kane as Batwoman (28)**

 **Terry Wayne as Phantom (30)**

 **Bruce Wayne as Batman (39)**

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 **Chapter One**

 **Consequence**

 **con·se·quence**

 **/känsikwəns/**

 ** _noun_**

 **1.**

 **a result or effect of an action or condition.**

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When the World turned against its heroes, Jim Gordon thought everyone had been exposed to one of Joker's tricks again. He wouldn't put it past the Clown Prince of Crime to scheme up a plan to have the whole world turn against Batman maybe. But the whole Justice League? No, Joker wouldn't have thought that. Joker only cared about the Bat Family. Everyone knew it too. So, Jim made the elevator ride up to the roof top with Bullock and Montoya and flipped on the bat signal.

"Think he'll be coming?" Bullock inquired. The Bat himself hadn't shown up himself for the past month or so, leaving it to the other members of the Bat Family. Not that the GCPD particularly minded, it was sometimes easier to talk to the other members of the Clan rather than the head himself.

"They will."

The trio waited, victims to the freezing winds of Gotham as they watched the sky line for a Bat. It was all too much like a normal night in Gotham, but now it was anything but. The world was changing, and Gordon believed it was for the worst.

"Commissioner."

They all jumped, just like every time a member of the Bat Family appeared. The Phantom grinned good naturedly, used to their reaction while Robin stifled a laugh.

"Where's the Bat?"

"Hello to you too, Bullock," Phantom sighed wearily, "Batman's still off world, league business. What's wrong?"

"Godfrey. Who does he think he is, slandering the name of you heroes like that. The world's turned against you!" Gordon blurted. He hadn't meant to, but the idea of the libelous news reporter disgusted him. He'd be glad to deck the notorious reporter if he ever got the chance, consequences be damned.

Robin nodded, "We've been watching his reports as well. And we've heard the announcement of the illegality of vigilantism."

As had Gordon, the main reason he had summoned the members of the Bat Family was to discuss the recent outlawing of vigilantism. The police force nationwide had been ordered to capture any proclaimed heroes on sight. Not only was that suicide—Gordon couldn't imagine even the whole police force being able to take down a single member of the Bat Clan—but Batman had done so much for Gotham. And now they wanted Gordon to betray him? Even coming here, Robin and Phantom had known the danger they were in with this new law, but they still came to the aid of Gotham.

"I want to formally sanction you Bats, make it so you don't have to stop working towards a safer city." Gordon paused, waiting for the shock to register with them, and slightly disappointed when it didn't. He should have expected they would foresee this. Still, even as they shook their heads, Gordon was glad to have been able to help the Bats thus far.

"Commissioner we appreciate your actions, but we wouldn't want you to get in trouble. You've done good for Gotham, all three of you, and Gotham can't afford losing such members of the police force. We'll be fine. Besides, I doubt you would be able to catch us anyway," Phantom offered a sly smile. The dark hero had never been afraid of showing emotion, unlike the Bat, something which had helped the police force build a relationship with the clan. Yet, whoever was under the mask likely knew their partner unnerved criminals and police alike, building a persona to compensate for that.

"We've got this for you, it's a communicator, whenever you need our help, just tap into the comm. With the anti-vigilantism movement, you won't be able to use the Bat signal," Robin stepped forward, holding out the small device to Gordon. The boy was one of the latest members of the Bat Family, although he was perhaps one of the most talented. At first, Gordon had been against Batman bringing such a young man into his crusade, until he'd seen the boy in action.

Gordon took the communicator from the boy, eyeing it before sticking it in his pocket. "Thank you. You Bats have done more for Gotham than anyone else. This is exactly the opposite of what you deserve."

Phantom grinned at the compliment, pulling Robin close to him protectively, which Gordon supposed he understood, what with the danger the police now represented to the Bats. "We'll see you around, Gordon, Bullock, Montoya."

As they vanished, Gordon turned to his comrades. Even if they didn't outwardly show it, they were just as enraged as he was over Godfrey's criticism. But for now, they couldn't do anything with the whole world against its saviors. For now, they'd have to adapt to the new status quo.

"What should we do about this?" Montoya asked, looking at the Bat signal. The spotlight had long since made its home on the roof top of the GCPD. The upkeep was at times, costly, but well worth it. The Bat Clan had long since been Gotham's greatest hope. And now they would just be an empty space on their roof.

"Put it in storage. We'll need it again one day."

Joker was angry. And when the Clown Prince of Crime was angry, he made sure the rest of the city suffered. But this time was different. It wasn't the Bats or Birds that made him angry, but rather the man who'd insulted his greatest adversary. That news caster had no right to speak of the Bat Clan as he had.

Sure, he didn't get along with the Bats more often than not, but that didn't mean he wanted more competition when he played around with them. With the police force turned against Batman it greatly limited Joker's options on how he would get Bats to come out and play. No longer could he threaten the police force, or stage city wide disasters which the police would be responsible to responding to. If he wanted to spend as much time as he could with Bats, he'd need to avoid drawing the attention of the incompetent Gotham police as much as possible.

Joker threw the remote at the TV, desperate to shut up the newscaster as he went on about how villainous the intentions of the Justice League really were. If Joker had known this was the stupid Light's plan he never would have played along, even though he had gotten to mess with Bats and the youngest bird during his brief stint as a member of the Injustice League.

Speaking of the youngest bird, when Harley had learned of his encounter with the little bird, she'd been furious. And while Joker could usually care less about his bumbling partner, he couldn't help but agree he hadn't meant to act in such a manner. After all, Robin had earned himself a place in Joker's life not only as a hero but also as a pillar.

Robin was always constant, willing to play unlike Bats, and sometimes caused his own little acts of mayhem. (Joker chuckled thinking about the time Bats had shown up in a pink version of his suit thanks to the birdie and the Red Hood.) And sometimes, Joker wished the bird boy was his sidekick instead of Bats'.

Phantom was also quite the character. He'd been with Bats since the beginning, the second Knight of Gotham, but where's Bats was more of a loner type, Phantom enjoyed working with the other heroes. He spent most of his time with the Justice League or helping solo heroes around the world establish themselves. But he wasn't the silent darkness of Batman, rather the witty comebacks and emotional element Bats missed out on. In that regard, he was much more capable of handling panicked civilians than the hardened masterminds of Gotham.

Red Bird, or the Demon as he was called amongst the Gotham rouges, had been the first sidekick of Phantom and Batman. In the beginning, he hadn't the same no kill philosophy as the other members of the Bat Clan. In fact, the brat had been blood thirsty and some of the other rouges went out of their way to avoid him, he had never been Joker's ideal playmate. As he'd grown, he'd mellowed out, and now he was just filled with empty threats of death and viciously beating those who dared to harm the other members of his clan.

Bluntly put, Joker had never had high expectations of Red Robin. He was perhaps the least fun of all the Bat Clan to play with. Always so serious, but he wasn't nearly as stony as Bats. Ra's al Ghul had long since told Joker that he could not tell that Red Robin was the most likely to become the next Batman due to his detective skills. If that were to be the case, Joker would have to find a new hero, as he couldn't "appreciate the finer traits of a worthy adversary" as Ghul put it.

Red Hood, of all the Bat Clan, had come the closest to killing Joker on several accounts. He'd provided entertainments for months as he killed Gotham villains, ending in the confrontation between Joker, Hood and Bats. When Joker had finally figured out Hood was Bat Boy, the stuck up kid he'd blown up a couple years ago, he'd thought Batman would kill him to get back on the brat's good side. Once again, Joker was disappointed as he once more lost his fight, Bats choosing to throw him in jail again.

With thoughts of the Bats in mind, Joker stared at the damaged TV in fury. He was going to kill Godfrey it was the last thing he did.

Vicki Vale stared at her fellow reporter in disgust as she watched him rant on the large tv in the office. She couldn't believe that he had turned the world against the heroes in just a matter of months. Why he had been allowed to continue his reporting career for so long with his treacherous comments against their saviors was beyond her. And Vicki could confidently bet her whole savings that if any hero were to save Godfrey's life, he would insult them right to their face.

"Can someone please turn that off?" Warren Spacey snapped at one of the interns, "If I hear another word out of his mouth I'll be as mad as the Joker."

The frightened intern quickly fumbled, turning off the TV as Spacey sighed, sitting down at Vicki's desk with a deep sigh. "I never thought the world would come to this. Turning against the Justice League like this, it's ridiculous. Tell me, you have a good relationship with the Bats, what do they think about this whole thing."

Vicki pursed her lips, while she had a good relationship with the Bat Clan, they'd yet to comment about the matter despite how many times she had asked them. Of course, her time with them had been cut short as of late with the police arriving to solemnly carry out the law. None of them seemed enthusiastic about the new legislation, but they were sworn to uphold the law.

"I don't know. They haven't said anything about it. I doubt they will, they can't exactly risk angering Godfrey anymore, who knows what he'll do next," Vicki replied.

Spacey nodded, "Who knows what anyone will do next."

The reporters held tilted as the curious statement. "What do you mean?"

"Think about it, the Joker does what he does to attract Batman's attention. With the police on the Bats' tail, he'll have to be careful if he wants to maximize his attention. With the police pursing heroes, their attention is divided. Which means crime rates might rise as well with the police chasing heroes and the heroes running from the police. At this rate, I'll give it two months before some villain like Joker tries to kill Godfrey, and you know what? The heroes just might not be around to rescue him. If I were Godfrey, I'd quit before I got ahead of myself. Although I suppose it's too late for that in his case."


End file.
